Class 222
Services
Class 222's are operated by East Midlands trains whoes main route is London St Pancras (intl) to Sheffield via Leicester, Derby and Chesterfield (MidlandMainline route) and the Oakham to Kettering line.
The Midland Main Line is a major route in England, running from London's St. Pancras station to the northern citys of Sheffield via Luton, Bedford, Kettering, Leicester, East Midlands Parkway, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield.
Since the closure of the rival Great Central Main Line in the 1960s, the Midland has been the only direct main-line rail link between London and the East Midlands and parts of South Yorkshire.
In January 2009 a new station, East Midlands Parkway, was opened between Loughborough and Trent Junction, as a park-and-ride station for suburban residents of East Midlands cities and to serve nearby East Midlands Airport.
Express passenger services on the line are operated by East Midlands Trains. The section between St Pancras and Bedford is electrified and forms the northern half of Thameslink (mainly operated by Thameslink and Great Northern), with a fast service to Brighton and other suburban services.
A northern part of the route, between Derby and Sheffield, also forms part of the Cross Country Route to Bristol and in summer, South West tourist resorts, operated by CrossCountry. Tracks from Nottingham to Leeds via Barnsley and Sheffield are shared with Northern. TransPennine Express operate through Sheffield. East Midlands Local also operates regional and local services using parts of the line.
Historically the line had an extension through Leeds in the near North East to Carlisle, and by agreement with other line developers ran to Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland. The East and West Coast Main Lines' faster and more direct services to Scotland caused these services to be lost. Later, overhead electrification of the West Coast Main Line and theBeeching cuts saw the marginally longer London-Manchester service via Sheffield ceasing: a straight railway from Derby to Manchester having been thwarted in 1863 by the builders of the Buxton Line who sought to monopolise on the West Coast Main Line. The line retains connections to the Peak District via the Hope Valley Line. [2]
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Main_Line
